Tour Leyte

Southern Leyte: Coral Wonderland of the Visayas

By Rio Cahambing
(All Underwater Photos by Yvette Lee)

Say “Sex”, I tried to say as I adjusted my sight on the viewfinder. But my subject is camera-shy, hovering quite far from our range and suddenly disappeared from my view. My dive buddy is busy looking at the huge sea fans and the thousands of fish surrounding our new found dive sight. Moments before, we decided to start our descent at the first rock protruding the water’s surface. Now, we are at 125 feet and feeling euphoric at arriving in so rich a sight. The surgeons were at a frenzy, obviously welcoming us to their hidden waterworld. But as sudden as it disappeared, my subject came back. This time nearer than before, swimming slowly, like a meticulous inspector, baring its teeth, perhaps out of curiosity. The meter- long barracuda passed us without incident. But we got the message: We are merely intruders to their world. Welcome to Southern Leyte! For quite a long time, Southern Leyte played only a background role to Leyte’s place in modern world history. The Battle of Leyte Gulf — following General MacArthur’s landing in Red Beach, Palo — indelibly placed this historic island in the history books. However, Southern Leyte’s most famous claim to history is the first Catholic Mass in the Philippines at Limasawa Island when famed Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan began his Christianization of the Philippine Islands. Southern Leyte was formed in 1960 following an act of Congress making the nineteen municipalities situated in the lower southern part of Leyte as Southern Leyte. Indeed, it is so rural and, until lately, so remote, that little can be heard about this province in Eastern Visayas, Philippines. But nothing could have prepared a diver or snorkeler for what could be seen and experienced once he is in Southern Leyte’s underwater world. Had scuba been invented earlier, Magellan could have made a few dives off the walls in Adrian’s Cove and Zach’s Cove in Limasawa. We “discovered” Adrian’s Cove and Zach’s Cove in Limasawa Island in 1996, when a group of divers were scouring for scuba tanks in Maasin, (Southern Leyte’s capital city). It turned out that the chance meeting would lead us to explore , for the first time, the tadpole-shaped 6-km long island we now call a diver’s paradise.

We descended from our motorized banca behind a backdrop of an imposing rock formation that we now call Adrian’s Cove. With crystal clear water, the sight of so many table and plate corals readily confirmed our expectations that this place was virtually untouched, except by some local spearfishermen. As we progressed near the reef crest, thousands of colorful and luminescent coral fishes welcomed us. We then decided to explore the drop-off right away, and as we went down, a 1-meter wide spotted ray hovered below at 100 feet. The sight was overwhelming… huge fan corals wildly colored soft corals and basket corals adorned the drop off. The caesios were not to be outdone. Huge schools followed our every move, and as we started our way up, a huge school of crevalle pervaded our view. The underwater terrain at Adrian’s Cove varies from deep canyons to walls and small holes and cavelets, some of which need further exploration. Bumphead wrasses, some estimated to weigh 20-30 kilos occasionally make their way through the reef crest, together with the angelfishes, napoleon wrasses, moray eels and thousands of reef residents, which will certainly come out during feeding time when the tide changes — exactly what we needed for a drift dive along the walls.

Zach’s Cove offers something different, and challenging. Its sheer drop-off sometimes exceeds 180 ft and as we made our descent, we noticed an abundance of corals in their most pristine state, from huge sea fans to soft corals to a wide variety of sponges, coral foliose and hard corals, including countless plate and table corals. For the trained eye, one can make out that clams and other marine life, like nudibranches and other invertebrates seem to feel at home in this marine hideaway. The reef residents stand out as well, from adult snappers, sergeant-majors, parrot fishes, angelfishes, groupers, large trigger fishes, sea snakes, and an almost limitless flow of pelagics and schooling fishes, adding more life to this blue undisturbed world. And the barracuda always provide a sense of thrill and awe as it makes its occasional visit to the reef. One can expect a “head-on collision” as both man and fish negotiate the wall. Southern Leyte’s dive sites are mostly located within Sogod Bay, in which straddles small Limasawa Island on the west and Panaon Island on the east. Yet, one of the most diverse dive sites in Southern Leyte is found in Ilijan Point in Napantaw, San Francisco, Panaon Island. For quite a number of years now, this area had become the runaway favorite for underwater photographers, marine biologists, deep divers, recreational divers and the like.

Discovered by the author in 1997 during the course of a marine survey, a stunning wall in excellent coral cover reaching to more than 45 meters and more than 300 species of fish and corals await the underwater explorer. Rio’s Wall, as it is now called, is considered one of the top five dive sites in the Philippines today. Top underwater photographers, like Yvette Lee, have made their way into this amazing wall, and even featured it on Asian Diver Magazine, Asia’s number one dive magazine.

It seems that if you name it, you will have it on this world-class wall, from critters like nudibranches, frogfish, stonefish, or seahorses to virtually every colorful reef resident to the biggies like groupers, snappers, jacks, napoleons, barracudas or turtles to white tips, carpet sharks or wobbegongs, or even the whaleshark – all found here. For its incomparable beauty and unbelievable state of preservation, it is a wall that almost has it all. Now part of the Napantaw Fish Sanctuary, Rio’s Wall continues to inspire both awe and delight to every diver within its realm – a natural legacy that every Southern Leyteno ought to protect and be proud of. Another prime dive site in the province is Tangkaan Point facing the town of Padre Burgos. We never thought that the kilometer stretch of cliffs hold promise because it is a traditional fishing ground for local fishermen. But, almost immediately upon reaching the reef crest, we noticed that the corals were in excellent condition. Huge table corals and several species of branching and finger corals make this area good for underwater videography and photography. Thousands of colorful reef fishes, plus other seldom-seen marine organisms like the frogfish, inhabit this less-explored dive site. But what made this area quite remarkable are its huge barrel sponges. So huge that we had to name this dive site the Barrel Sponge Garden. That, along with its easy access from the road make Barrel Sponge Garden a must-see underwater beauty to behold. But Southern Leyte remains a laid-back dive destination in this part of the country. More dive sites await discovery and exploration. Slowly, Southern Leyte is making a name for itself in the dive tourism industry, after being included in the Lonely Planet Philippines Guidebook 2002 Edition as one of the upcoming dive destinations in the Philippines. And like a commander patrolling his rank, the meter-long barracuda made its way before us, suspiciously inspecting these strange bubble-blowing intruders. We again tracked him through the viewfinder, but he swam fast to join another school of about fifty of their kind and disappeared into the blue abyss. Dive SOUTHERN LEYTE!

About the Author:

Mr. Rio Cahambing recently resigned from the government to pursue a small private enterprise. He was the former OIC-Tourism Operation Officer for Southern Leyte. During his 12 years in government service, he has surveyed most of the province’s reef areas including the whole of Limasawa Island, and established more the 16 fish sanctuaries, most of them in Sogod Bay. In his spare time, he writes about interesting places and diving in Southern Leyte to help promote the province as an ecotour destination. For more information on tours in Limasawa or Southern Leyte, kindly email the author at scuberph@yahoo.com or diverio_2000@yahoo.com Miss Yvette Lee is a professional underwater photographer based in Manila, who has dived extensively in the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific region, like Palau and Sipadan. Her articles and pictures are published in such prestigious magazines as Asian Diver, Action Asia and Philippine Diver.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of this article and the accompanying photos, in part or in whole, is strictly prohibited without the express written permission from the author.

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